Post #605831 by JOHN-O on Wed, Sep 7, 2011 1:24 PM

This had been in heavy rotation for me as of late...

I know this might be old hat for the hardcore Exotica collectors out there but for those who rarely leave the Les Baxter/Martin Denny/Arthur Lyman comfort zone, it might be informative. Chaino gets scant attention here on TC.

This out-of-print compilation CD had been on my wish list for quite a while now, I recently picked it up at BigTikiDude's Surf Convention of all places !! The signature sound is jungle percussion, tribal chanting, and jungle grunting and howling.

Some of this stuff is pretty crazy, the song "Jungle Chase" is an unabashed depiction of hot jungle sex. The fact that it came out in the late 1950's boggles the mind !! And "Rockin' Bird Bongo" and "Swinging Congo Bird" take the whole Exotica "bird noises" schtick to another fun level.

And check out this kinky (for the time) S&M jungle imagery...

Here's the revalation for me. I always assumed Chaino was from Africa. His publicized mythology states he was an orphan who was "the only survivor of a lost race of people from the wilds of the jungle in a remote part of central Africa where few white men have ever been."

The real fact is that he was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Chicago !! The guy was as fake Exotic as Korla Pandit was (and which makes his music all the more cooler IMHO). :)